This invention relates to a dock for a small watercraft, such as a jet ski and the like, and more particularly to a dry dock which tilts in a seesaw motion as the watercraft is docked and launched from so that the boater may have ingress and egress to the watercraft generally in a dry condition.
Previously, drive on dry docks have been provided, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,013, wherein a dock is assembled from hollow floatation units which include tall and short units whose top surfaces are substantially co-planer. The units are arranged to form two spaced dock arms, and the short units are able to flex downward as a watercraft begins to ride upon the dock because of the location of the connection between the adjacent units. Since the tall units cannot flex to the same extent as the short units, they form a relatively stable planar surface. The short units are proportioned so that the uppermost surface of each is out of the water both when the dock is empty and when a watercraft is docked on the dock. While this assembly allows a watercraft to be driven upon the dock, it requires a large number of interconnections of floatation units which must be assembled and maintained. Another drive on dock is disclosed in U.S. Pat No. 5,281,055, wherein a dock is comprised of uniform floating docking sections coupled together with male and female connectors and anchoring rods. The docking sections can be arranged in a variety of dock designs. It has also been known to combine with such docking sections, a floating platform upon which a jet ski can be driven on and off of using a roller. The docking platform includes a contoured bottom portion which accommodates the hull of the jet ski. Considerable propulsion or effort is needed to propel the water ski over the roller to a fully docked position, and to launch the watercraft.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved dry dock for a small watercraft, such as a jet ski and the like, wherein the watercraft may be dry docked and launched in a quick and easy manner.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a dry dock for a small watercraft, such as jet ski and the like, which tilts in a seesaw motion so that a minimum of propulsion or effort is needed to move the watercraft onto and off of the dry dock.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a dry dock for a small watercraft, such as a jet ski and the like, which is of a single unit construction so that the maintenance of a large number of interconnections is not needed.
Still another important object of the present invention is to provide a dry dock for a watercraft which is of a single unit construction and tilts about a buoyant fulcrum so that the watercraft or jet ski may be easily driven upon and moved off of the dry dock by the boater in a dry condition.